Lisa was standing in a bathroom that was probably as big as the whole of her house.
It was covered in marbled walls and floors and looked more like the private saunas that she had seen in a lot of movies.
It had a towering tub in the middle while the walls were decorated with rows of gold bars on which white towels and robes were perched. Across the room, there were transparent shower stalls with golden shower heads.
As Lisa stood in the middle of it all, she thought that maybe she was dreaming.
How else could she explain this situation and all that was involved in it?
Just yesterday, she had been wishing for a way to die and leave everything behind and then hours later, she was being practically sold off by her family to a bunch of strangers and just when Lisa thought that her life couldn't get any worse, she was shocked.
Shocked because it actually got better.
But Lisa was a realist, she knew that there was definitely going to be a catch for all of this.
In the past few hours, she had gotten in laws that seemed to respect her like a human being, they had turned out to be absolutely financially buoyant and then to top it off, the man that was supposedly crippled was probably the most good looking person that she had met in all of her life.
This was all completely bollocks and all that she was waiting for was for her to wake up from this dream of hers because she was positive that she was dreaming.
Lisa suddenly had a bright idea.
She could pinch herself so that she could wake up and return to the life she knew.
She took up her fingers and grabbed the side of her face, pinching aggressively.
"Ouch," she wailed softly as she immediately released her cheeks when pain blossomed from it.
"What are you doing?," A voice called from behind her, shocking Lisa who immediately stumbled forward as she tried to place the voice.
She opened her eyes and immediately saw him.
The same man that had come into the room and led her into this bathroom.
He was now wearing a robe and staring at her in amusement.
Wait, this was all real?
Lisa couldn't contain her shock, she stared at him with wide eyes.
No, there was no way all of this could be happening to her.
She was sure that there would be something off.
She turn to the man that had just become her husband and began to imagine all sorts of crazy scenarios.
What if he hit her like her family had?
It wouldn't be the first time?
What if he actually hated her and was only pretending ?
Esther had done that a lot.
Whenever they had visitors or had to go somewhere, she would always act like Lisa was the love of her life and she was the proudest older sister, only to be even more heartless to Lisa as soon as they were home.
Lisa had often wondered why she even bothered to do that, there was literally no need but Esther was beyond narcissistic and Lisa could never understand why she did what she did.
"Why aren't you naked yet?," he called.
Lisa frowned at him as she stepped back.
Was this man going to be as narcissistic as Esther had been too?
"The real question is why are you naked?," she replied, glaring at him before she caught herself and immediately acted right.
She was about to apologize for her words when he burst into laughter.
She watched him throw his head back and produce a blend of sounds that she immediately wanted to join in.
He stared at her with twinkling eyes when he was done laughing.
"My wife has a great sense of humour, good to know," he commented.
Lisa frowned even more, nothing she had said had been meant to be funny.
Why did he then say that she had a great sense of humour?
She was confused and watched him with sharp eyes as he put his around his neck to take off his robe.
"What are you doing?," Lisa yelled at the top of her voice as she imagined him getting naked with her.
What did he want?
Why was he trying to be naked with her?
She grabbed her chest, heaving loudly as she stared at him.
"Hey, hey. It's okay," he called to her as he raised up his hand to reassure her.
"I'm not naked underneath," he said to her as he pushed off the the robe.
She sighed when she saw that he was indeed not completely naked.
He was wearing a white pant that seemed to be made of some sheer material and was naked from the chest up.
Lisa gulped as get her eyes travelled up his body.
Man, was he beautiful.
His body had the delicate sharpness that immediately told you that he spent time in the gym to look like that.
But, she was sure that the gym hadn't given him that delicate golden colour or the that facial structure that seemed to be of Greek descent.
He smiled at her as he pointed at the tub.
"Come on, it feels really great and it will help you relax," he told her before he turned around.
He had suddenly turned around in the middle of their conversation so Lisa was a tad bit surprised as she stared at the back of his head that was completely covered with black, wavy curls.
"What are you doing?," she asked when he wouldn't turn around.
"You seem shy, love. I'm giving you the privacy to take off your clothes," he told her.
Lisa was quiet as soon as he said this and hurriedly took off her clothes, staring at her body in disgust when she did.
The fact that he would soon turn around and see her made her feel even worse and hate herself so much more.
She was already strengthening her heart for whatever he was going to say to her when he turned around but to her shock, he didn't turn around.
He instead stretched his hand to her.
"What are you doing?," Lisa wondered out loud as she debated taking his hand.
He chuckled softly.
"Take my hand and guide me to the tub. I don't want to make you uncomfortable by turning around," he told her.
As soon as he said this, Lisa's heart fluttered in shock.
No one had ever been considerate of her and her feelings and she didn't know how to react.
She took his hand carefully as she guided him to the tub.
When they reached the tub, she got in first and completely submerged herself before he finally turned around, smiled cheekily at her and also joined her in the tub.
"Hello there," he greeted again like they hadn't been together since.
Shy, Lisa turned away, ignoring him.
But, he didn't seem the least bit disparaged.
"How does it feel?," he asked her as he purposely splashed a bit of the water on her.
It felt warm and bubbly.
It smelled so refreshing that Lisa wanted to take a deep breath and take it all in but she frowned at him instead.
"Yeah, it's okay," she replied.
He laughed softly as he relaxed completely in the pool, closing his eyes.
"This feels familiar," he told her.
Lisa didn't understand what he meant so she kept quiet and just watched while he opened his eyes to see her.
"It reminds me of your sister," he told her.
As soon as he said this, Lisa's heart froze.
"My sister?," She questioned, to be sure that he had actually mentioned Esther.
He nodded immediately.
"I don't know if you remember this. When we were younger, my parents and I went with your family for your father's fifth death anniversary. I was around ten years old then and while the adults were talking by the grave, I wondered off to a nearby lake. You came with me and pushed me into a lake after a small misunderstanding and u really thought I was going to die because I couldn't swim and you had basically run off but then your little sister jumped into the water and began to pull me up till we were both found and rescued. She saved my life even though she was just a baby," he narrated, a little smile on her face.
Lisa stared at him.
He thought that she was Esther!
In his story, Esther had pushed him and she had saved him but how come she didn't remember any of this?
She didn't know what to say so she kept quiet and continued to stare at him.
He stared at her and chuckled.
"You are nothing like I remember, you used to be so scary," he told her.
Lisa gulped as she realized what this situation was.
Would he now hate her because he thought she was Esther that had tried to kill her?
How unfortunate could one be?
This had been her chance to escape that life and now, she was with someone that thought that she had once tried to kill him, this was all so damn perfect.
She had completely forgotten her environment and was lost in thoughts when she felt him push her hair back.
She flinched and immediately moved away as she turned to glare at him.
The first thing she noticed was that he was no longer smiling.
The twinkle that had lingered in his eyes since she had first seen him had disappeared and he was now staring at her or rather, glaring at her.
Her blood immediately ran cold as she wondered what was wrong.
What was he going to do to her?
Was this going to be a continuation from where her family left off?
She almost smiled.
What had she even expected?
It had all seemed too good to be true and this honestly made more sense to her.
She stared at him, waiting for the harsh words or the hits already.
"You know, ever since my father told me that I was going to marry Esther Dennis, I've hated it. I still remembered exactly how she had smiled as she watched me drown so how could I marry her years later. My father was convinced that she would have changed and he wanted to do something to honor his best friend who was dead because our family owes quite a lot of our success to him. I was prepared to just hate my wife till she was forced to eventually divorce me herself," he explained to her.
Lisa couldn't even bring herself to blame him, she had suffered first hand from Esther's abuse so she understood the reason anyone would hate her sister.
She wanted to confess to him that she wasn't Esther but she was afraid that when the family found out about the deception, they would halt the financial help they rendered her family monthly.
If they stopped, her siblings and mother might kill her when they found out that it was her fault.
Lisa had no choice whatsoever other than to shut up and take whatever he said.
"I couldn't be bothered to actually properly proceed with the marriage which is why my parents tried to take care of it by themselves so imagine my shock when I came into my room and found you standing there," he told her.
Lisa gulped as she stared at him.
"You were standing there, looking nothing like Esther Dennis," He finished.
Lisa blinked.
"What? What do you mean?," she questioned, confused.
He just shrugged.
"It's kind of hard to forget the face of the person who plagued your nightmares as a child and you look nothing like her," he repeated.
Lisa stared at him, realizing that there was no convincing him, he knew exactly what he was saying.
"You're not Esther Dennis," he said quietly.